Falmouth Road Race

This past weekend was incredible. I got to meet some amazing people, spend the weekend with some new, and not as new friends, sit my butt on the beach, and run the Falmouth Road Race. So many great things packed in to a short period of time. I didn't want the weekend to end.

I headed down to the Cape on Saturday morning. Stacey was so gracious and offered to let me stay at her house Saturday night even though she was photographing a wedding in VT and wouldn't be home until after midnight. On my way to the Cape, I made a stop in Falmouth to finally meet in person two very influential people in my life right now, my coaches Stephanie and Ben Bruce. Ben was also running Falmouth as one of the many incredible elite runners (he ended up placing 4th overall and was the 1st American finisher, congrats Ben!). Ben and Steph were staying with a host family in Falmouth and we had planned to meet up while they were in town. Unfortunately I hit some pretty bad Cape traffic on my way, so I didn't get to spend as much time with them as I had hoped. But thankfully we still had some time to chat, drink coffee, and I got to hang with the newest Bruce, Riley.

little Riley is the cutest!! Thank you so so much for having me Steph and Ben! 

After leaving Steph, Ben, and their little cutie pie I made my way over to the beach to find Beth and her friends. After being internet friends for so long it was so great to FINALLY get to meet Beth, who is every bit as fabulous as I had imagined. We sat on the beach for a while and then went back to her friend Allison's house to chat some more. They were planning to have lobstah rolls (or lobster for you outside of New England) for dinner. I decided to head back to Stacey's to make myself a big bowl of gluten free carbs for dinner hoping it would be easier on my stomach.

Beautiful beach on the Cape
Photo credit: Beth 

After probably too much pasta, and a glass of wine, I went to bed early knowing my alarm would be set for 5am. When my alarm went off I got up pretty quickly. I was excited to get this show on the road. Stacey, her husband Gary, and myself were out the door by 6:00. Gary was volunteering at the finish line, so he dropped us off at the busses, which would bring us to the start at Woods Hole.

Stacey and I on bus
Photo credit: Stacey

We got to Woods Hole pretty quickly, which meant we had about 2hrs to kill before the race started. We walked around a little, checked out the starting line, and then settled in a spot by the water to relax, hydrate, and wait.

enjoying the water while we waited

pretending I'm fast

In all honesty, I was pretty thankful for those 2 hrs of waiting around. It gave my stomach just enough time to settle itself before the start of the race. I was pretty nervous things weren't going to go well during the race, but thankfully it turned out ok. Stupid stomach. Anyways! The race started at 9, so around 8:45 I started making my way up to the 8:00 pace flag. My goal was to finish under 56:00 so I lined up right by the front of the 8:00 mark. My local running buddy, Stephanie and I had talked about starting together and had similar goals, but hadn't planned on a place to meet before the race. I hoped if I went right by the 8:00 marker she would show up there too, and she did! She's actually the one who convinced me to enter the lottery for Falmouth a few months ago. I'm so happy I did and that was picked.

Right at 9am the elite runners were off and running. Not long after that it was time for us to go. The sun was warm from the start, which made me a little nervous because of my bad experience in Vermont in May. I told myself I would push as much as I felt comfortable and be sure to stop at all the water stops. The first few miles are rolling hills through winding tree-lined roads. The crowds of people right from the start were incredible. I tried to settle in to pace right around 8 min/mile. My legs quickly started to feel the burn from the hills but I tried not to focus on it and instead focus on what was in front of me. I decided to try to relax on the up hills a little more than I usually do, and let it go on the down hills, which seemed to work out pretty well. 

Around mile three we came out of the woods and ran along the beach (same beach I met Beth at the day before). It was beautiful. However, the sun was beating down and my legs were still burning. There were multiple people standing out by the roads with hoses spraying water. It was around this point that I dumped the first cup of water on my head. I could feel myself getting warm and I didn't want to risk it. The water felt great. From then on out I hit every hose I could see and continued to pour water on my head at every stop. 

It was also around this time that my watch beeped at me as if to say I had completed another mile, but I hadn't (super annoying). After that I was pretty unsure of where I was at. There are mile marks painted on the road, but I as having trouble seeing them. As I approached mile 5, and saw the painting on the road, I thought it was actually mile 6. I pushed on and began looking for the steep hill I knew was near the finish. I kept looking, but I didn't see it. I was confused, and tired, but kept my eyes forward and continued running. Eventually, I saw another pained number on the road....mile 6. Crap. I kept running.

focused on the finish

The crowds, cheering, and support throughout the entire race was incredible. This was even more evident during the last mile. I was so thankful for everyone there that day who kept me pushing forward. I don't remember much about the course at that point, except the large number of people lining the roads. Finally I saw what marked the beginning of the last steep hill that would lead me to the finish. I knew there was a slight downhill on the other side and I was determined to give it all I had left. And then, just before the bottom of the hill my shoe came untied. At that point I couldn't stop to tie it, so I kept going hoping I wouldn't trip and fall on my face. When I got over the top of the hill I spotted the American flag that hangs over the road just before the finish line. I let my legs go and cruised down to the finish. 

this was the flag we ran under on our way to the finish line
Photo credit: Beth

My time ended up being 56:56, which is an average of 8:08/mile, about a minute slower than I was hoping. However, I can honestly say I am very happy with my race. As I said earlier, my legs were tired and burning nearly from the start, but mentally I felt stronger than I have in a while. I fought for every mile and stayed focused on my race. It was a huge step for me mentally this year. So, even though I didn't quite finish where I had wanted to, I consider this race to be a big victory. The Falmouth Road Race itself was probably one of my favorites so far! Everything was very well organized, the course was beautiful, and the support was amazing. I will definitely be entering the lottery again next year!

    

Ragnar Cape Cod

This past weekend I ran my first Ragnar Relay with 12 other incredible women as team Flock You Like a Hurricane.  It was by far one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

It will be hard to put the weekend in to words, but I'll do my best.  The journey began last fall when I saw rumblings on twitter about Ragnar Cape Cod and putting together a potential team from some Oiselle team members.  I immediately responded that I was interested.  Eventually a team was formed and before I knew it I was signed up to run a Ragnar Relay.  Holy crap.  I was a little hesitant about it for a while because I knew I was going to South Korea the week before and wasn't sure if I'd be recovered enough, and more importantly, if I would be able to get the time off work.  Many thanks to my boss, I was able to make it happen.  

I headed down to Logan Airport Thursday afternoon to pick up Melissa, Ali, Danielle, and Carolyn.  Lindsay was supposed to join us too but her flight was delayed multiple times, so she didn't make it to Mass until that night.  We had dinner scheduled in Plymouth at Mamma Mia's to meet most of the other members of the team (Rebecca, Anne, Amy, and our fearless team captain, Stacey), talk about a few logistics, and eat a bunch of carbs in preparation for the weekend.

Flock You Like a Hurricane taking over Plymouth

After dinner, we picked Lindsay up at a bus stop, and then headed down to Stacey's house.  Van 2 started and finished day 1 close to Stacey's home and she was gracious enough to let us all camp out there (thank you times a million, Stacey!!).  After some relaxation, talking, and a glass of wine, we retired to our beds to hopefully get a good nights sleep before the shenanigans began.

Friday morning we woke up, enjoyed a nice breakfast, and coffee (sorry van 1), went to pick up the van, and some last minute necessities.  Then it was time to decorate the van with markers, and ourselves with tattoos.  We loaded everything up and were on our way to Duxbury Beach to meet the other van at the first major exchange.  I started to get really excited since it was almost our time to run.  The beach was filled with white vans, porta potties and people ready to run.  We were debriefed, and then walked over to the exchange to wait for Melissa to finish leg 6 and hand off the snap bracelet to Lindsay for van 2's first time to shine. 

decorating       

van 2 ready to take over

reunited at the first major exchange

Melissa passing the torch (err snap bracelet) to Lindsay

Once we left the beach we made our way out on to the course to cheer for Lindsay and the other runners in van 2.  I didn't realize how much fun jumping in and out of the van multiple times along the way could be.  It was so much fun cheering for and supporting my teammates.  Being a part of a team is something I have been missing recently.  I was runner 9, so my first run was the shortest of the 3.  I was excited to get started but had a blast cheering while I waited for my turn.  

amazing teammates   

My first leg said it was 3.6 miles easy, but it ended up being just over 3.  I felt strong from the team energy but tried to hold back a little because I knew I had a long road ahead of me.  My average pace was 8:25 for those 3ish miles.  After my leg we stopped for coffee, continued to cheer our butts off, and eventually found ourselves at the second major exchange around 8:00pm, ready to pass the bracelet back to van 1.  

if you're in Mass and spot a Marylou's...go.  you won't regret it.

go team, go

After we finished our first legs, Stacey was once again so generous and welcomed us go back to her house to eat dinner, shower, and try to sleep for a couple of hours before we had to head back out.  I think I slept maybe an hour and woke up around midnight to pack our stuff and go meet van 1.  It was tough trying to get moving, but exciting too.  I'm not going to lie, I was a little nervous about running in the middle of the night, but I actually had a lot of fun.  Between the hours of 6:30pm and 6:00am we weren't allowed to yell and cheer loudly.  I must say, we perfected the art of cheering quietly.  My second leg was 5.6 miles and I averaged an 8:40 pace.  It took a couple miles to feel like my body was completely awake, but once I got going I enjoyed the dark run much more than I thought I would.  

We met van 1 at the next exchange and then drove to the following exchange located at a school to try to get some sleep in the gym or van around 5:30am.  I ended up staying in the van and curling up on the back seat.  At that point I was so tired anything looked comfortable.  I managed to sleep for an hour or so.  When I woke up my stomach was not feeling very well and I was actually pretty nervous for the next couple of hours.  After multiple bathroom trips, Lindsay was kind enough to offer me some immodium, which seemed to do the trick. 

We regained the snap bracelet from van 1 close to 10am and were once again on our way for our third and final legs.  This was the leg I was most nervous for.  I had my longest and most difficult leg that was 7.6 miles.  My legs felt tired from the start, but I gave it my all.  It was so motivating to see my teammates who stopped to cheer and offer water while I was running.  As they beeped and cheered when they drove by I found motivation to keep going and keep pushing.  I thought over and over how they had all worked so hard before me and I wanted to do the same for them.  I finished the run with and 8:38 average pace, a ton of confidence, and an appreciation for teammates that I've never felt before.  

the end is in sight

The relay finished in Provincetown and as we drove down the road to the finish I started to feel sad that it was almost over.  We waited for our final runner, Jessie, to reach the finish so we could all cross together.  It was an incredible feeling to cross that finish line with 12 runners and 2 drivers, 192 miles after we started.  

we did it!

After the race, a few of us hung around to eat our free food, drink free beer, and scope out the gear.  Eventually we made our way back to Stacey's house again where we would stay for one last night.  Along the way we stopped at the beach for a perfect end to an amazing weekend.  

When I left for Ragnar on Thursday, I knew I would have a good time.  But, I never could have imagined just how incredible it would be.  Little did I know sharing a sweaty van with 6 other runners, would be one of the greatest experiences of my life.  I went in to the weekend not really knowing anyone, and I walked away with countless memories and new teammates who I am honored to now call my friends.

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